Canadian telecom regulator’s measures against telemarketing calls might impact VoIP

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has recently announced measures aimed to reduce the number of unsolicited and illegitimate calls received by Canadians. According to these measures, telecom service providers are required to develop technical solutions aimed at blocking ‘illegitimate nuisance calls’ within their network. Following this announcement, concerns have been raised regarding the potential negative impact of such measures on legitimate calls from VoIP services. The problem, as IT World Canada reports, seems to be related to the fact that VoIP applications such as Skype or Google Hangouts might fall under the scope of the term ‘illegitimate calls’. This could mean that ‘many legitimate phone calls would be unable to reach their intended recipient and consumers would have no customisation of the blocking available to them.’